PIPs vs Actual Time on RTE

Enright

This has annoyed me for a while now, when the pips chime on the hour during the early morning shows on Radio 1, there is always one less "pip" that the actual time. Has anyone one else noted this? Solution required please

Fago!

How many pips do RTE use? haven't listened to radio 1 in ages.

BBC use six pips. Five that last a tenth of a second starting at say 11:55, then a pip that lasts half a second at 12:00. The beginning of the hour is at the beginning of the last pip.

I dunno what way RTE Radio 1 do the pips, but it can't be worse than RTE 2FM having the pips built into the news jingle.

Enright

Lets say it 6am, they play 5 pips followed by an into

if its 8 am they play 7 pips followed by intro

I assumed that like a clocks chime, it would be the equal to the time

Mycroft H

News at One does 6 afaik

dib

landyman wrote: »

News at One does 6 afaik

That is correct. News At One is *always* six pips.

Mongarra

I always thought they were all 6 'pips'. Just goes to show how observant I am!

Trick of the Tail

They should all be six! Thats the point. I like the idea of a long last one, so you know its the last one.

I hate 2FM using pips in the news jingle, as its manually played and not accurate! Whats the point of having a time signal if its not accurate?

4FM used to have pips built into their news jingle too, also inaccurate.

I reckon they all copied Zenith Classic Rock, who have three pips, the last one long, at the top of every hour, which are accurate.

Although on the webstreams the pips are not accurate by the time you factor in the buffering delay.

A.

Kensington

I always thought it was six pips too - the sixth pip beginning at the actual hour change and usually longer than the rest to signify.

Enright wrote: »

Lets say it 6am, they play 5 pips followed by an into

if its 8 am they play 7 pips followed by intro

I assumed that like a clocks chime, it would be the equal to the time

Not sure what RTÉ do in the mornings - could it be the pips are to count the time in GMT? Bearing in mind we're currently operating at GMT+1, so 7am "local" time is 6am GMT = 6 pips, 8am "local" = 7am GMT = 7 pips etc.

Trick of the Tail

RTE never had a longer pip. The beeb do that; Some countries have a higher pitched 'beep' to signify the final one.

I'm not sure how RTE generate their pips, if they're accurate at all. The story of how the beeb do it is interesting - well worth a wiki.

A.

Kensington

Apologies, yes, six straight beeps on RTÉ. No idea how they're generated though! I would think they're accurate, why bother if they're not?

Remember reading about the BBC alright, it was a big atomic clock converter in the basement of Broadcasting House if I recall correctly.

They seem to use them a good bit in Europe - accurately too. A good few Spanish stations do them at the top of every hour - often they incorporate them into the jingles.

Catalonia go even further and do pips (although not six!) to mark every quarter hour - they go straight out over the ordinary program material too.

And there's some useless observations of the day!

mike65

alinton wrote: »

I reckon they all copied Zenith Classic Rock, who have three pips, the last one long, at the top of every hour, which are accurate.


A.

Any chance you could drop the pips, Zenith needs a time marker like Keith Emerson needs a metronome.

Trick of the Tail

nic simile, but they're part of the station's 'signature' now!

A.

Fago!

Pips back in the day were for exact time announcement so ships could set their equipment to the very exact time. Nowadays it's a novelty. I like the pips. They're cool. I wish RTE radio would play the pips every hour on all the stations.

Liam Byrne

Fago! wrote: »

Pips back in the day were for exact time announcement so ships could set their equipment to the very exact time. Nowadays it's a novelty. I like the pips. They're cool. I wish RTE radio would play the pips every hour on all the stations.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4pHhItkhc7o